Households Moving within the Rental Sector: Mental Schemata and Search Spaces

Abstract

This paper is a report on a simultaneous study of renter movers' mental schemata, their overt search behaviour, and the structure of a housing submarket. Past research suggests that the pattern of intraurban migration can be rationalised using a model based upon an individual's mental image of the city. The mental image both facilitates search, and acts as a behavioural constraint upon the resident when he or she is searching for new accommodation. However, cognitive mapping per se has been less than exemplary in exposing the elusive bond between urban images and housing search behaviour. It is suggested that mental schemata are more appropriate than mental maps in delineating behaviour, as they represent cognitive structures and coding systems which enable the individual to respond to the shifting patterns of environmental stimuli. Personal construct theory is used to investigate the mental schemata of relocating renter households in London, Ontario. A strong correspondence between the respondents' mental construction of their environment and their overt behaviour (that is, where and how they searched) is reported. Several observations are made concerning the characteristics of renters, housing search, and the suburban–downtown split in the rental housing market of London.